Survey: Health insurance costs outpace wage gains

An annual survey shows that the average cost for employer-sponsored health insurance rose modestly this year, but it still outpaced worker wage increases. That means that in many cases workers are seeing a larger portion of their paycheck sliced off to cover health insurance.The survey was conducted by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust. It found that annual premiums for employer-sponsored family coverage climbed nearly 4 percent this year to top $16,000 for the first time. The cost of single coverage rose almost 5 percent. Worker wages, meanwhile, climbed nearly 2 percent on average. Those wages have climbed about 31 percent since 2003. But the average contribution a worker makes to family health insurance has jumped 89 percent.

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